Can I claim back huge interest rate charges

mak44

I have battled with my mortgage payments for years I have not dropped behind and are now very close to finishing my mortgage, I first took out a mortgage on my property for £185,000 in 2004 I put down £22,000 deposit but had to pay 10.2% interest for the first three years approx £1,625 a month ( Kensington ) I kept this up somehow and moved to another company G E money after this , I cannot remember the interest rate but remember paying over £1300 for the next three years , like I said I battled these figures and overpaid every extra penny I had , is there anything I can do to claim back these excessive interest charges as I feel I was penalised for being self employed and this was the only option open to me at the time , or should I just forget it because that’s what I signed up for 
thanks for letting me air my grievances 

[Deleted User]

No.  You only paid that rate because of your risk levels and because you agreed to do so.

The time to negotiate is before signing the contact, rather than 16 years after.

trex227

Also one thing you have to consider is back in 2004 the U.K. base interest rate was 4.75% (at end of year). So paying interest at 10% might seem high compared to how it is now, but it’s comparable to someone currently paying 5% on their mortgage (which I understand is the ballpark for adverse/non standard circumstances  lenders) given the base rate is at almost 0.

MWT

mak44 said:

... or should I just forget it because that’s what I signed up for

This.

getmore4less

Why did you not review borrowing options for 16 years?

As your LTV improved there would have been options. 

ACG

Presumably you could not get a mortgage with a high street lender? 
You cant then complain that you had to go to a more specialist lender who was open to more risk but charged higher rates because of that. Nobody forced you to take either mortgage out, you had the option of saying no. 

But also as mentioned, interest rates have dropped massively in that time, when I first became a Mortgage broker, Halifax were charging 5.99% on either an 85% or 90% Mortgage. Rates would have been lower in 2012 than in 2004 so to be honest you were probably not paying massively over the going rate at the time. 

trex227

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-312897/Homeowners-hit-rate-rise.html

This is an article from 2004 when the base rates went up to 4.75% (apologies its the DM, couldn't find any other articles when I had a quick look). This shows the Abbey National put their standard mortgage rate up to 6.75%, so yes you were paying more, but only a few percentage points over what a standard borrower at the time was paying.

dunstonh

is there anything I can do to claim back these excessive interest charges as I feel I was penalised for being self employed and this was the only option open to me at the time

You were penalised by not having strong finances.   Not for being self-employed.

 or should I just forget it because that’s what I signed up for 

You chose to buy a house with a mortgage.  You agreed to the terms, which were increased amounts because of the increased risk you were.   You chose to proceed on that basis.   You could have chosen differently if you wanted.  Such as waiting until your finances were better and a mainstream prime lender was available to you.  

foxy-stoat

Love to know how much your house is worth now 16 years later....no you cannot complain about something you agreed to.

Just thank your adviser that they didn't advise you to take out an interest only mortgage.

Thrugelmir

Perhaps your customers would to reclaim from you the excessive amounts you charged them?